Poor sick Jake

I hate it when my kids are sick. Jake has had a fever since Tuesday. Today, he wanted to try to eat lunch, so he had me carry him to the table, cover him with a blanket, and put a hat on his head so it won't be cold. He looked so pathetic and yet so cute at the same time. I had to take this picture.

I have noticed that when my kids are sick, I do things I would never do at work. I give ibuprofen an hour early because even though I have been alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen and he is still hot. I of course rationalize that "he hasn't met his 24hr max dose, so it will be ok" I would never do this at work...15 min early no prob, but not an hour. It just goes to show that all your nurse skills fly out the window when it is your kid that needs care. (ok, I also feel the need to play by the rules the hospital sets, in order to keep my job, but still). I also let him cover up as much as he wants because he "is cold", instead of making him use a light sheet to help break his fever. This is my house, so I am going to just be the mom...the nurse works at Children's Mercy.

Devon is ONE!

October 20th Devon had his first birthday! I can't believe it. We had a cute little party for him the Sunday before his birthday. My husbands parents came up from Oklahoma and my parents as well as my grandmother were here. I was very fun. Devon had a great time entertaining everyone.

We did Mickey Mouse theme for him, and it was so cute! (would have been cuter if the guy at Party America didn't think I was stupid enough to believe they discontinued the Mickey Mouse balloons...seriously? Mickey Mouse will never be discontinued)
Devon loved his cake, and we had to dunk him in the tub after his ravaging of the cake.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was writing about how I thought I would be pregnant forever. Ha, well, here we are a year later and now I can't imagine my life with Devon not in it. I love that little guy, he is just what our family needed. A funny, sweet, determined, and hot tempered little blond hair blue eyed boy. Even though I don't always have the most stress free of days with him, he does always make my heart melt. I know that that stress is just him working on the roots that it takes to grow a wonderful, caring, strong man. I am so blessed to be his mom!
Thank you Devon, for being such a great little boy, and for bringing laughter and joy to those who love you! Happy Birthday, I love to watch you grow.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

A little late I know, but hey, I just got the Mac back. Ok, October 13th, I got to go with Jake's pre-school class to the KC Pumpkin Patch right here in Gardner. It was very cold (in the 40's ) and even though Devon and I froze, Jake had a blast. Jake has a Best Friend named Nick (next to Jake in the pic) they are inseparable. It is so cute to see that he has such a good friend already. We took a wagon ride out to the Pumpkins and the teachers did a little lesson about the pumpkins then told the kids to "go pick out your pumpkins and when we are done, we can go play". Jake is on top of his game. He hears "pick pumpkin, go play". So, he yells out "found mine" and picks one from right where he is standing, hands it to his teacher and says. "ok, lets go play" then runs off (Nick follows as well). I love this about him. He did what was told in order to accomplish his own agenda. I think he will go far in life with that mantra.

Mac is on hospice..be back soon

I would love to update this blog with two stories...that I have pictures for. However our Mac needs a new hard drive or logic board. The Apple store is going to take good care of it for me. Until then, I have to let you know that there will be a couple of overdue posts in a week or so. Jake went to the pumpkin patch with his pre-school and Devon turned one today. Both things I would like to blog with pictures!!! ARGHHH

Oh well, we used the crap out of that hard drive. RIP

Toy Story double feature

Last night we took Jake to see Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D. Most of you know that Jake is Pixar's biggest fan. When we heard that they were re-releasing the first 2 movies at the theatre, we knew we had to take Jake. Jake of course made sure to bring his "new Woody" doll which of course is over a year old to the movies with us. I was so surprised at how well he did watching not one but two movies in a row. Aside from the initial holding Woody up to the screen and practically yelling "hey...dat is you", and reciting several scenes verbatim, he didn't do too bad. I was surprised that he only wore the glasses about 30% of the time. They didn't fit him, I don't understand why they don't make child 3D glasses for the animated films (of which there appear to be a slew of on the way). Colby even went to check with the staff, they brought us these foam tubes to make the ear pieces fit, but the nose piece covered half of each eye. I don't think he could see much of the 3D effects. This little problem would have ruined the movie for me, but not for Jake. He LOVED it!

He loved it all, the movie, the popcorn, and the fact that we let him have some coke (a huge no-no with him). My sister Cherie and one of her friends went with us, and Jake had a great time with her. Jake loves aunt Cherie, he gets to honk her horn and ride on her back wheels while going for a quick ride.

I loved it too. I got to watch my oldest son watch his favorite movie on the big screen, with him sitting on my lap and his crazy hair in my face. It just doesn't get better than that. I also had a good little cry while I was there. They play the full trailer for Toy Story 3 before the show. In TS3, Andy has graduated High School and is leaving for college and his mom looks at his old toys and asks him what he wants her to do with them. This is where I lost it...I know that the day will come where my Jake is going off to college, and what toys will remind me most of his childhood? Woody and Buzz (and Lightning of course). I just don't want to think about him being all grown up, so I am glad that I get to have several more years to love on him before that day comes. Thanks Jake for being the great little guy that you are! I love you so much.

How to load the dishwasher...with a toddler

Doing the dishes has now reached a challenge...Devon. For some reason, anytime the dishwasher door opens, Devon makes a bee line for it. He likes to take dishes out of the silverware holder and chew them, he likes to lick the water that is sitting on the dishwasher door, and he likes that he can try to climb up on the door. As you can imagine, this tends to slow down the process of loading and unloading. Here is an example of my challenge this morning.

Me: putting the dirty dishes into the dishwasher

Devon: tries to eat a dirty spoon, knife and tongs all with one grab.

Me: pick Devon up and take him to the dining room (where all his toys are of course)

Devon: looks at me like I am crazy and quickly crawls back to kitchen

Me: sees Devon crawling and runs to dishwasher to continue loading dirty dishes.

Devon: arrives quicker than I thought and gets a cup out.

Me: "Crap" picks Devon back up and runs him into the dining room then runs back.

Devon: "screams" drops to his knees and halls tushy into the kitchen, grabs measuring spoons and laughs.

Me: laughing all the way back to dining room, drops Devon at toys and runs back to kitchen...just 2 more things to place !!!!

Devon: deep belly laughs while again lightning pace crawl back to kitchen. He arrives just as I am loading the last dish and about to put the door up.

Me: "Ah ha! I win!"

Devon: drops to the floor and cries like I just took his best friend.

This makes me sad for a second, then I continue to relish my victory...that was kind of fun.

Homecoming 2009

I know that I am a little slow getting this up, but things are crazy these days. Anyway...last Saturday the 26th Victoria went to her first homecoming dance! It was a lot of fun...for me at least. Victoria had a great time too. Two of her friends came to our house to get ready first and their dates met them here.

Victoria and Chase looked great! I am very proud of both of them. Even though they broke up 2 days before the dance, they were back together and going strong, by the big dance.
Morgan M and Morgan C and their moms came over to our house to get ready, which was a lot of fun. I like that our house was the place to be. It makes me feel good, like we are the the High School version of the Kool-aid house. I am so glad that my friend Ashley worked for me that day, it was very much worth it. I did all the girls' hair...even Victoria's (much to my surprise). It appears that my 80's/90's hair do skills were much needed! I even heard a few, "Oh, my God, that's a lot of hair spray"...to which I had to respond..."You can never have enough hairspray, and be glad that we don't use Aquanet anymore".

Of course the girls ran late (the boys sat and watched football with Colby they were all bored...Colby too)
I can't wait to do it again! I loved getting to spend that time with you Victoria! Thanks for letting me be a cool mom...you know I am, your friends all say so : )